Design and Development of Wind Tree to Generate Electricity from Low Velocity Wind

Project Title

Design and Development of Wind Tree to Generate Electricity from Low Velocity Wind

Project Area of Specialization Mechanical EngineeringProject Summary

Wind energy is one of the renewable, sustainable and cheapest sources of energy. As fossil fuels are non-renewable source of energy so there should be some sustainable energy source for future generation. Pakistan has a high potential of generating wind energy but the high operational cost and operational complexities limits its production. There is lot of research work going on Vertical Axis Wind Turbine to increase its performance. Wind trees are practical and potentially very contributive to the production of clean renewable electricity from the wind even under less than ideal sitting conditions. It is ideal to locate wind tree on top of a bridge or bridges to generate electricity, powered by wind. The elevated altitude gives it an advantage for more wind opportunity. With the idea on top of the bridges, it will power up street lights and fulfill other commercial uses. The objective of this project is to design and devolve a wind tree to overcome energy needs of country. We will fibricate our blades with glasss fiber due to its low weight and corrision resistant features. We will design and manufacture permanent magnent axial flux generators becuse they can be operated at low rpm.

Wind energy is one of the renewable, sustainable and cheapest sources of energy. As fossil fuels are non-renewable source of energy so there should be some sustainable energy source for future generation. Pakistan has a high potential of generating wind energy but the high operational cost and operational complexities limits its production. There is lot of research work going on Vertical Axis Wind Turbine to increase its performance. Wind trees are practical and potentially very contributive to the production of clean renewable electricity from the wind even under less than ideal sitting conditions. It is ideal to locate wind tree on top of a bridge or bridges to generate electricity, powered by wind. The elevated altitude gives it an advantage for more wind opportunity. With the idea on top of the bridges, it will power up street lights and fulfill other commercial uses. The objective of this project is to design and devolve a wind tree to overcome energy needs of country.

We will fibricate our blades with glasss fiber due to its low weight and corrision resistant features. We will design and manufacture permanent magnent axial flux generators becuse they can be operated at low rpm.

Project Objectives

There are many other objectives of this project as follow:

1. To generate clean, green and sustainable energy for future generations
2. To get knowledge about horizontal axis wind turbine and vertical axis wind turbine.
3. To design and fabricate wind turbine tree using vertical axis wind turbine that could generate power under relatively low wind velocity.
4. Analysis how different geometry of the wind turbines would affect the output power of the wind turbine.
5. To get knowledge about process of generation electricity from wind energy
6. Learn about wind energy and different ways of convert it to a useful power.
7. To learn about different software and engineering concepts
8. The conceptual model for the wind tree is to be fabricated

Project Implementation Method

First of all, literature review is done and different type of wind turbines are studied and analyze. We have done comparative analysis in them. As, our project deals with low velocity wind we have decided to go with ice wind design of wind turbine which is indeed optimize and modified form of S type wind turbine. After we studied and analyze different materials, which could be used for manufacturing of our blades. We have done structural analysis with carbon fiber, aluminum and glass fiber. After that, we selected glass fiber for the fabrication of blades due to its low weight corrosion resistant and economical features. We have studied different type of generator after through survey we decided to use permanent magnet axial flux generator because they are capable of generating electricity at low RPM. After that, we have performed CFD analysis on wind turbine and make required modification to optimize blades. Then we use topology optimization technique to optimize the design of our blades. After that we will made a pattern of our blades then fabrication is done by using hand layout technique. For manufacturing of our generator, we will purchase neodymium magnets (24 for each generator). Then with the help of these magnets, we will manufacture our generator. In this wind tree we are going to make just three branches, so three generators are required. Then we will test final prototype and will complete our thesis and research papers.

Benefits of the Project

Among the conventional energy generation sources, fossil fuels have highest shares. With the burning of these fossil fuels to meet our energy requirement, we are causing environmental pollution. These fossil fuels release hazards oxides of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur. These ozone gases results in the depletion of ozone layers, that is directly or in directly causing a number of diseases to human, and results in death of millions of peoples every year. As these fossil fuels are finite and non-renewable, so one day we will run out of these resources. The best way to counter the issue is to identify renewable and sustainable energy resources. Wind energy is among one of them. Analysis has proved that wind energy is the cheapest, clean and green form of energy. By utilizing this source of energy we will not only get economical benefits but we can also save our environment for hazards gases that will eventually results in saving the life of millions of living organism around the globe. As wind energy is a renewable source of energy so it will continue to benefit the humanity generation by generation.

Our design of ice wind turbine will have high torque and is capable of generating electricity from low velocity wind. It will have pressure distribution away from the axis of rotation. That will result increase output power of wind turbine.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

We are just making the prototype of ice wind tree. The main purpose is to elaborate the concept of wind tree, analyze its performances, to provide a sustainable energy source for future generations and to highlight its commercial importance. For this purpose, we will make a wind tree with three branches aiming to generate power from low velocity wind. Each turbine will have a diameter 0.8m and height 0.6m. The generator will consist of neodymium magnets 24 for each generator. Each neodymium magnets is of 30mm diameter and 4mm thickness. The generator type is axial flux permanent generator.

Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry Energy Other Industries Manufacturing Core Technology Clean TechOther TechnologiesSustainable Development Goals Good Health and Well-Being for People, Affordable and Clean Energy, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate ActionRequired Resources

Elapsed time in (days or weeks or month or quarter) since start of the project	Milestone	Deliverable
Month 1	Literature review	Literature review
Month 2	Analytical Modeling	Analytical Modeling
Month 3	Governing Equations	Governing Equations
Month 4	CAD Modeling	CAD Modeling
Month 5	Material Selection	Material Selection
Month 6	Structural Analysis	Structural Analysis
Month 7	CFD Analysis	CFD Analysis
Month 8	Fabrication of Blades	Fabrication of Blades
Month 9	Designing and Manufacturing of Generator	Designing and Manufacturing of Generator
Month 10	Testing of Prototype	Testing of Prototype
Month 11	Thesis and research paper completion	Thesis and research paper completion